If you either own a home or rent one, you can at any time be faced with a plumbing emergency. There are a number of steps you can take to solve or contain the emergency in your home, however, in some cases, you will need the assistance of a professional plumber.

Getting a professional plumber such as Ace Plumbing is a great idea if the problem is too much for you to handle on your own. However, for many plumbing emergencies, there are things you can do to solve the problem yourself or at least contain it before the plumber arrives on an emergency call.

Steps to Take in a Plumbing Emergency

If you have overflowing water or other issues that are constituting a plumbing emergency, use the following steps to control or contain the issue and then call for help if you need it:

Close the Main Water Valve

In almost every plumbing crisis, the first and best thing that you should do is to shut off the water to the house. You can find the main water valve either in your utility room or the basement of your home, which is where they usually are.

This valve usually feeds directly into the water tank and is positioned on the wall facing the street usually. With traditional type handles, you will want to turn it clockwise to shut off the water flow. For those handles that are blade types, you will want to turn it so that the handle positions crosswise to the pipe

Stop Minor Leaks

If there are small leaks in your plumbing, you can do your best to address them with temporary measures. If you have plumbers tape or duct tape, wrap it around the pipe over the leak area to temporarily seal the leak. If you don’t have waterproof tape or duct tape, wrap the leak in rags which will soak up as much moisture as possible, and then use some kind of tape to bind it.

You can also place a bucket underneath leaks to catch drips and minimize the water damage until you get a plumber to arrive.

Shut Off Water Heater

Temporarily, you will need to shut down the water heater because it will not refill with a water valve closed and the burner could cause the empty tank to overheat and cause a fire. You also want to tell your family or roommates not to do laundry, shower, wash dishes or use any water until the plumbing repairs are completed.

Some examples of emergency repairs will be a leaking faucet or overflowing toilet, or a burst pipe perhaps. You can avoid these situations by not being too rough on your plumbing as you use it, as abuse of fixtures can lead to emergency situations.

These are the steps you can take for a traditional plumbing emergency that will help you before you get the help of a professional. Unless you know something about plumbing repair and can handle the actual repairs yourself, you should always get a professional to actually perform the work so that you make sure it is both done correctly and will be safe for you and your household.

Taking these emergency stops will handle most plumbing emergencies that may arise, and you should always use a professional emergency plumbing service such as Ace Plumbing in the greater Sacramento area to do the actual repairs.